Lauren Alaina Had to Warn Her Boyfriend About Her ACM Awards Moment With Kane Brown

Kane Brown and Lauren Alaina stepped on the stage at the 2018 ACM Awards knowing theywere about to shock their fans. That super-romantic almost-kiss during their live performance of "What Ifs" was planned, but put the two artists — both of whom are in committed relationships (with other people) — in an odd position.

"We had been doing rehearsals for the show and they told us that they wanted us to work on staging and blocking, and they told us that they wanted us to end up face to face," Alaina tells Taste of Country backstage on Jason Aldean's High Noon Neon Tour. "They" are ACMs producers.

"I mean, Kane and I don’t really put our noses together when we look at each other," she jokes, "So during rehearsals, we are standing 2 to 3 feet apart — like a normal distance for people who are performing together — and they said, 'Can you guys get a little closer together?' They said, ‘We want people to think you guys are going to kiss.’ We asked them, ‘Why do you want people to think that?'"

Now Get Kane Brown's Side About the "What Ifs" Performance

ACM Awards producers perfectly predicted what would happen — as planned, social media exploded as the moment happened live during the CBS broadcast. But both Brown and Alaina felt awkward about what transpired, but Alaina feels like it was the right call anyway.

"They wanted us to live out the lyrics of the song and after thinking about it, I think it all kind of made sense," she says. "Part of our job as entertainers is to entertain and perform and take on the roles of two people who were supposed to be asking, ‘what if?'"

"But it was a little weird, because I’m in a very committed relationship that will be six years in October and Kane is engaged to be married," Alaina admits. "I had to go to (boyfriend) Alex (Hopkins) and be like ‘So, just to let you know, we aren’t going to kiss but its going to look like we are ...’ But he’s great. I mean, Alex is so great and Katelyn [Jae, Brown's fiancee] is great, too. We both have really good people supporting us."

Alaina wouldn't have wanted to have this non-romantic "romantic" moment with anyone else. "Thank God it was Kane," she admits, chuckling. "If it had been some other dude or some random guy, I might have had to put a halt to this. I mean, what if someone had actually kissed me live on television? It would have been a smack in the face."

Next up for Alaina includes getting back on the road with Aldean and Luke Combs this weekend before settling back in Nashville for a number of CMA Fest appearances.